I do facts, not feelings
by 0MaidOfHope0
Summary: Augustine sycamore was more than happy to take a vacation cruise ship, but what if he takes the wrong one and meets a certain colleague of his and has to share a room with her? Juniper x Sycamore! Love this rare-pair! Disclaimer- I do not own any of these characters or this brand/show/game/manga. If I did this area would have been full of mah ships!
1. Chapter 1

Augustine Sycamore boarded the large green cruise ship, excited and yet underwhelmed. He had wanted to take a vacation for a while, after the summer camp and work and such. He was exhausted, so tired that he realized if he didn't take a break he'd be forced into a sleep induced coma. And so here he was. The plan was to go to the other side of Kalos and back, a two day trip.

Getting in took a wave of a ticket along with a grin and people immediately let him on. His eyes scanned the large outlook of the rolling, calm waves.

"Hello sir, I am Evan, here to direct you to your room."

A young bellhop ,with striking red hair, smiled up at him and waved his hand before pointing it towards the elevator. The young man had said that Sycamore would be roomed in the penthouse, and the ride up was full of Sycamore thanking Arceus for his connections.

" The captain had wished for you to have the best room available. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask."

The second large door shut with a click. Sycamore was impressed with the luxurious pent house style room, furnished with two couches, a large television set, a circular dining table, just about anything one could want in a home, and a little extra. He set his sweater and hat upon the coat rack and decided to explore the bedroom.

He was greeted with a queen sized bed, vanity, set of drawers, another television set, and … an unpacked suitcase? His eyes scanned the contents and he quickly deducted that a woman was also sharing the room with him, but where was she? He walked over to the window, that took up almost an entire wall, and gazed down at the people. Which one could possibly be rooming with him?

An idea struck him and he raced out the door, down the hallway almost tripping before he realized that he was still in public, and had to maintain his image. There were ALWAYS busybody's and gossip lovers. He walked breezily towards the bellhop who had assisted him before and asked,

"Excuse me sir but have you let anyone else into my room?" The young man's eyes clouded with something Sycamore couldn't catch before he frowned,

"No sir I haven't, I'll go check with the captain," He rushed away before Sycamore could even ask who the captain was. Oh well, Sycamore would just have to talk to the other person later.

He walked back towards his room and changed into his swim trunks, excited for a swim, he had seem the pool on deck when searching for his room-mate. His form was lanky yet toned so he had no problem with leaving his shirt and just running to the pool. His garchomp lay perched on a rock sunning herself as Sycamore climbed up the diving board. Seeing someone there he patiently waited. The person stood there for a minute yet to move, and he grew impatient, clearing his throat. The woman turned and Sycamore's lips twitched into a smile.

"Aurea Juniper is that you?"

The woman in question nodded grinning, as he looked her up and down. Her skin was somewhat pale, which just complemented her light brown hair, her figure was somewhat curvy and thin clad in an emerald green one piece, she reached his chest which meant she was a little more than 5 feet, and her eyes were an odd cyan. He walked out to greet her, forgetting that they were on a diving board, slipping, and causing them both to fall into the pool.

His vision was clouded by water as he came up for air, he gasped and looked for Aurea. They had fallen into the twelve foot area which meant he couldn't even stand. He swam over to the 6 foot area, and crashed into another body. Once again he came up sputtering and face to face with Aurea , well more like face to chest. He panicked they were in the five foot area which meant he could stand, she how ever could not. Sycamore grabbed her waist and held her up against him. Aurea let out a squeak before wrapping her legs around his waist automatically, and throwing her arms around his neck.

"Well," she said looking up at him, a light blush covering her cheeks, matching his no doubt, "That's one interesting way of saying hello."

His cheeks darkened in embarrassment, as he set her down on the pools edge.

"Relax Augustine it's fine.", she laughed. Augustine let out a chuckle and pulled himself out of the water, seating himself next to her.

"I didn't expect to see you here Aurea when did you get here?"

"A few days ago. I've been out and about so I'm only ever on the ship at night." He smiled, he could relate to being overworked.

"Ah, well I just got here, needed a nice vacation, I felt like my head was going to explode."

"I know the feeling." She frowned and nodded grimly.

"So what brings you all the way to kalos?" Augustine questioned.

Aurea raised a brow,

"Me? Kalos? Augustine what are you talking about? This is a world wide cruise ship. I'm on this ship to study Staryu, Starmie, Horsea and all-why do you look so confused?" Augustine's mind raced to answer her questions as his face contorted into a somewhat horrified expression. He got up and walked briskly to the ships indoors area, Aurea grabbed a swimsuit cover and trailed behind him. He looked over the map that showed the ships route and indeed found that the ship made several stops beforehand and would not be returning to Kalos for another few weeks. He thought had about what he was to do before turning around and explaining the...predicament he was in.

"So you're telling me you thought this ship, full of people from Unova, Kalos, Sinnoh, Johto, Hoenn, and Kanto, only went to the other end of Kalos?"

"Essentially yes, look I thought they were tourists or something. The ship won't be returning to Kalos for weeks and my assistants will be very mad,but on the bright side, I get and extended vacation." Augustine held his chin in his hands as he thought, walking next to Juniper, who looked down worriedly.

"Augustine this can tear a really big hole into your research plans and data, you need to find some way to figure out a solution." Aurea said. Augustine frowned but relented and called up his assistant, a young woman with glasses and wavy blue hair appeared on screen.

"Look I may or may not have boarded a world wide cruise accidentally, and we're headed to Unova, what can I do?" Augustine blurted out the sentence, like a kid about to be scolded by his mother. Sophie sighed and adjusted her glasses.

"Well professor this will severely-"

"Aurea already lectured me, I understand that I have responsibilities in Kalos."

"Hi." Aurea waved at the screen.

"Hello!", Sophie said brightly before frowning angrily at Augustine, all business, ", Professor you have three options, jump off the ship and swim all the way back to Kalos," Augustine scowled at the joke," Get off on the next stop and catch a different cruise or plane back to Kalos, or continue your research in Unova." Augustine brightened at the last option, why didn't he think of that?

"You're right! I can search for Mega evolution stones in Unova, and see if any other pokemon can mega-evolve there, while you can learn and handle the responsibilities of being a professor in Kalos! Brilliant! Call you later! Goodbye!" He turned off his holocast before Sophie had time to say anything.

Augustine whipped his head around and eyed Juniper who was shocked, and then became stern.

"Augustine, that's not funny. Do you even know what you're going to do?"

He smiled,

"I'm going to travel with you of course!"

"What?"

"Aurea your type of work is mostly field work so why can't I just travel with you. You know your way around, didn't you say you and your father were backpackers? We can collaborate! When-"

"-IF-" Aurea interjected. Augustine continued on determined to get his plan to work,

"-I find mega evolution stones, there will have to be some very interesting pokemon and ruins somewhere around the area right? You can study those while I look around, please?" She looked away deep in thought as Augustine practically begged her.

"I ... don't see why not." She said slowly drawing out her words. Augustine grinned from ear to ear as she smiled tentatively.

"Well if you want I can treat you to dinner as a thanks" Her smile grew and she grabbed his arm dragging him back out to the open area of the ship, showing him some of her favourite stalls.

The two sat down at a small table enjoying creamsicles, lemonade, and sushi. Miccino, Garchomp, and Accelgor sat under them eating their food as quickly as possible, barely taking time to breathe.

"So, Aurea what do you want to do tomorrow?" Augustine asked between bites of spicy tuna.

"Well I already gathered two days worth of data so..." Aurea trailed off, "I don't really know."

"We can go to the tournament they're hosting here."

She stared at him inquisitively, the melting creamsicle running down her hand.

"I didn't know they were even hosting a tournament."

Augustine held out a napkin and then pointed to the posters hanging on the stall behind her. She frowned and took the napkin, dabbing delicately at the stained tablecloth.

"Well either way Augustine I'm not much of a battler..."

"I'll do it if you do it." He cut her off, as She tried to steal the sushi off his plate, but failed as he used his own chopsticks to slap hers away.

"Fine," she said, "But, we're practising a bit before the battles tomorrow." Augustine sighed.

"What would you do without me?"

"Probably rot alone in my luxury suite, with my pokemon turning to dust."

Augustine frowned, as he sparred with Aurea, she had beaten him. For the third time in a row. Which honestly was sad. The only time he had won was with garchomp and that was because he had mega evolved garchomp. He wasn't very good with froaki or fenneken, he wasn't familiar with the moves enough to really develop a strategy. Aurea though really just put him to shame, she had amazing strategy, he could tell she thought better on her feet, and somehow was capable of moving a lot during the battle without panting like a lillipup.. He ran his hand through his sweaty hair,

"Good job Aurea.", She beamed,"But," and dropped her stance, crossing her arms in annoyance," You only have two pokemon."

"Well the form said you only need two pokemon at least three at the most." She stated matter-of-faculty.

"I know but here," Augustine handed her a pokeball,"Use my Fenneken a fire type should be able to help with your offensive moves."

Aurea frowned but took the pokeball, she pulled out her pokedex.

It was much smaller than Augustine's and much less flashy, seemed like that so it was more portable. Her eyes scanned the information on it's top screen before it lowered and she returned it to her pocket.

"One more battle?" she asked, holding up the pokeball he had given her.

The ride up the elevator was short, and quiet, with both professors tired from the multitude of battles, so tired that neither noticed the other walk into the same room as one another. Or get into the same bed.

* Hello! First let me say that this is a rare ship and I would love to hear if anyone else does ship it! If you are currently reading my old story I'm sorry to say it has been discontinued :(. I didn't really have a plan for it so ... yeah hope you enjoy! R&R!


	2. Chapter 2

Augustine's eyes opened, slowly adjusting to the soft light of the sun, before he just groaned and rolled over to the other side of the bed. However instead of soft sheets he landed on what he thought was a pillow. Until it yelped. He pushed himself up, using his hands and knees. Since when could his pillow talk?

"What the-?!", Wham! A knee landed on his groin and he gasped falling over to the side, whimpering.

"WHO THE F- Augustine?" Aurea stood at the other end of the room blocking the door, in a tank top and shorts, clutching her pokeballs to her chest.

"Why are you in my room?" Augustine grimaced as he pulled himself up.

"I … could … ask … you the same. You must be the owner of that suitcase." He panted, nodding to the red suitcase in the corner of the room.

"Yes, I am. I was not, however, informed of a roommate."

"That makes two of us, I had been waiting to talk to you since yesterday, of course I didn't know it was you ..."

"Well, I'm sorry about kneeing you ... in the crotch. I, uh, suggest we go and talk to captain so we can sort this mess out. Sharing a room would be unprofessional as co-workers."

"Fiiinnnnneeeee, but later I need a nap-"

"Augustine you just woke up."

"-And an ice pack." he finished. Aurea winced, and left to go fetch some ice.

After an intense verbal battle, and a bit of whining, Augustine got to use the bathroom first, and Aurea had to listen to running water for over half an hour, taking her time to throw on jeans and a t-shirt. Finally the shower stopped and Aurea waited patiently for a few minutes before knocking, "Augustine are you done?" A faint voice replied,

"I'm done, just don't come into the closet!"

Aurea cracked open the bathroom door, before taking a step into the steamy room. She walked over to the sink and rubbed at the fogged up glass before picking up the brush and running it through an area of her hair, barely getting past two inches before it snagged on a tangle. She growled and tugged at the knot before dropping the brush, and wincing at the pain that shot through her scalp. She picked up the brush and continued to work at the knot determined to get it out. After five minutes she managed to undo the knot, just as Augustine exited the closet, fully dressed.

"Good morning." He greeted with a wave.

"I've had better." Aurea grumbled, trying to reach the long hair on the back of her head. Why was this so difficult?! Augustine laughed and took the brush out of her hand.

"Here I've got it." He flashed her a smile in the mirror.

"Since when were you in such a good mood?" She asked, remembering his previous actions.

"Since I got to take a nice warm shower." She almost laughed when she remembered that she was talking with a co-worker.

"Here I can do the rest, this isn't exactly professional." She reached for the brush, but a frowning Augustine raised it above his head.

"Come on Aurea, we slept in the same bed last night,and besides I'm going to be traveling with you for a while, so it's going to get a little unprofessional sometimes." He winked at Aurea, who flushed and scowled. Nevertheless Aurea relented, facing the mirror and crossing her arms. Augustine grinned and went back to brushing her hair.

When he finished Aurea put up her hair, and they raced to the exit,

"There we're ready let's go, or we'll be late."

Augustine stared at her for a minute before nodding and opening the door,

"Right behind you."

"Welcome! To the 68th Annual Kalos on Ice battle! I'm Nickolas Trap hosting today's tournament and boy do we have a selection of participants out here today!"

Aurea and Augustine sat with the rest of the tournament entries on the side of the boat, shivering as the lifeboats hung over the Icy water.

"A-a bit chi-illy isn't it-t?" Aurea asked, wishing she had remembered her coat.

"Aurea," Augustine frowned, ",why don't you have a jacket?"

"Well I didn't expect it to be so cold, it is a cruise ship after all."

Augustine sighed,

"You'll get hypothermia if you stay out here without anything, I'll ask them to pull the boat up."

"And ruin the tournament for the other participants? Come on Augustine."

Aurea looked at the man next to her, who stared down at her with concern written all over his face. Then shook her head and turned her head back towards the blimp displaying the hosts enormous face, she wasn't worth the hassle. She rested her elbow on the side of the boat and propped her head on her fist.

"Three gym leaders and two professors have shown up today hoping to give us a show, and they don't disappoint! First up is Burgh all the way from Castelia city in Unova!"

The crowd gave a roar of approval as the handsome bug-type specialist was shown on the screen bowing in appreciation.

"All the way from Kanto, Misty! Leader of the Cerulean gym, specializing in water types!"

Another wave of cheers as the young red haired girl waved and winked at the audience on screen.

Aurea clapped but stopped when she felt something soft and heavy being placed on her shoulders. She turned to find Augustine had shrugged off his jacket and was trying to offer it to her.

"Augustine! No! Take back your jacket, you'll just get sick! I don't need it. Really." Aurea protested, like a child protesting a kiss from their mother. Aurea knew that this was just a gentlemanly thing to do, but somewhere in the back of her mind, the thought of his jacket on her shoulders sent a small spark of emotion through her body, and she did not like it.

"Come on Aurea, you're obviously freezing and you've been shivering this entire time, put on the coat!" Aurea furrowed her brows and realized that she had indeed been shaking a little bit as the announcements played out. She faced him and pushed the coat at him, he pushed back. Soon it became an awkward grappling for the two.

"And lastly we have Viola from Kalos, who also specializes in Bug-type."

The camera panned over to a young lady with short hair and a camera in her hands. Not that either of the two were looking, they were still somewhat-not-really-fighting over who would get the coat. Currently Aurea was losing, Augustine was just simply stronger than her, with a height advantage. Augustine really just wanted to stop, he was starting to lose patience and the ten minutes of fighting over who wore the coat wasn't helping Aurea become any warmer.

"And lastly we have Professor Juniper from Unova,"

Augustine was suddenly struck by an idea and pulled the coat, along with Aurea, towards him. He swiftly yanked it out of her hands with one arm and pinned her against him with the other, effectively trapping her. With his left hand he swung the coat to his right and held it against her back by the collar.

"There," he huffed, ",you're wearing the jacket."

Aurea's face, though cold, grew hot as her held her against him. There was a wall of warmth on either side of her and she couldn't move, more than anything though, she wished to stop feeling like a small schoolgirl.

"Augustine Sycamore you let me go this instant!" Aurea squirmed wanting to hide her face when she noticed the other contestants staring, this was so embarrassing.

"What's that? Thank you Augustine for keeping me from freezing to death? Well You're very welcome." Augustine said as he peered at at her face and noticed a flush of color set in, 'good she's getting warmer', he thought, "Your lips are slightly blue."

Aurea's eyes widened, having not realized how cold she was.

"-And Professor Sycamore from the Kalos region!" At the sound of his name Augustine turned his head towards the blimp, Aurea following suit when she noticed his face turn red, almost the shade of over-ripe tomatoes. On the screen Augustine was holding Aurea very close, almost pulling her face up to him possessively, by the collar of his jacket as she pressed her hands against his chest in a more-than-friends kind of way, their faces were inches apart, it almost looked as if they were about to kiss. However, unlike the other announcements, this display was only met with loud gasps and shouts of outrage. The two remained frozen staring at the awkward misinterpreted image displayed above. It wasn't until the announcer screamed into the microphone did they separate, leaving the coat on the floor.

"Well the professors are certainly putting on an interesting show, not the kind I had in mind but one just as fun to watch. Sadly, we'll have to move on to the tournament but maybe later we can get a little inside scoop on this! Now onto the other contestants theres blah blah bladdidy blah…"

As the announcer finished his loud lecture about rules all Aurea could think about was the coat that lay on the floor of the boat, untouched, as it was slowly covered it in a thin layer of snow.


	3. Chapter 3

After many minutes of rules being laid out and several awkward glances being stolen, the screen displayed the faces of the many contestants as though they were game cards. Only then did the two "professors" think to actually look at their opponents.

Many young children were shown, as well as a few teenagers, the three gym leaders, and one or two adults. In this tournament there were 16 entrees in all, 4 rounds in total, one Pokemon per battle, and one winner. Aurea bit her lip as she thought about the multitude of battles she would have to handle. Aurea was, much like her favored type ,water, adaptable and fluid in thought, however she became dangerous and loud when angered. Now though she wasn't as confident as she was during the deal with Augustine.

The faces were flipped, suddenly shuffled and mixed , causing Aureas head to spin at the sight of the flying colors. The cards came to a halt, and there was a sudden change of atmosphere as everyone eyed their opponent. Aurea saw the face of a young man with light brown hair, a white suit, and green eyes. He wasn't to bad looking but Aurea wasn't quite attracted to him. Aurea felt a pair of eyes resting on her and turned to find the man staring at her from across the lifeboat. She walked around Augustine ,who had been eyeing his opponent as well, and over to him. A smirk played at his lips as she neared him and she wondered what he was thinking about, "Perhaps he is thinking I'm naive?" a small voice whispered in the back of her mind. Aurea frowned at the thought and quickly dismissed it, she was after all a well known Pokemon professor, no one would think her naive. "Hello, I believe I am your opponent. I am-"

"Ah yes, professor Aurea Juniper ," he interrupted , "I was hoping to make your acquaintance . Alex Hermfry, I look forward to battling with you." Aurea was silent for a few seconds, a bit startled at his forwardness but let a smile settle on her lips, a little friendly competition never hurt anybody.

"Likewise, so what brought you onto this cruise?,"

"Oh you know business and meetings with clients."

Aurea nodded,

"Hmm, well at least afterwards you get to relax."

"Exactly! I'm sure you have the same intentions after work ,"Alex's gaze flicked towards Augustine and he smirked a bit, ", Or were these meets just silly coincidences and distractions?"

Aurea was shocked, he was so rude. She bit her lip as she balled her fists, " Oh. Well I can assure you that the meeting with Professor Sycamore was an accident. However I was just curious, you consider meetings with a colleague, even if it was purely coincidental, to be a distraction yet see a two day tournament as something you're obligated to do, why is that?"

"I have actually already taken care of my business here, what made you think I didn't?"

"I could ask you the same about assuming that my meeting Augustine was a distraction."

Alex raised a brow,

"So you're saying it wasn't?"

"Well no...yes… it's complicated, and none of your business."

Alex gave a cheshire-like grin,

"Touché, still how rude of him to have been making a move on you in such a manner, especially when you clearly wanted nothing to do with that."

Aurea did a double take, Augustine hadn't been making a move on her, was that what it looked like?

"Oh, you misunderstand, you see Augustine was just trying to keep me warm. Even though, yes, I did refuse his attempts, he was only concerned for my well being."

"Nonsense, you don't need to cover up for him, he can't do anything to you right now. Obviously he was only concerned about what he wanted, I've met many men like that and I know one when I see him. Maybe you should stay on **MY** side of the boat for now." What should have been a suggestion, seemed much more like an order to Aurea. She also noticed how Alex had said 'my' side of the boat. This man was exactly what he had just called Augustine. And Aurea was not going to let him insult her friend, she would have to settle this on the battlefield.

"Thank you but I think I'll be leaving, goodbye, good luck!"

The words left her lips automatically, as if she had no control over herself. There were many things Aurea wished would happen to Alex and none of them were good. However, she had to keep her image clear and clean. Well, try to seeing as how Augustine was already making that difficult, Aurea's face heated slightly when the day's earlier events replayed in her mind. She walked over to Augustine, who was juggling his pokeballs, and Aurea suddenly began wondering about what type of Pokemon Alex would be using. She smiled, whatever it was there was no way it would beat hers.

Augustine was holding his three pokeballs, juggling them around in his hands, as he waited for Aurea. The life boats weren't to big, but the talk she was having with the the rich guy seemed like it would take a while. He was a stiff man, who seemed to hold himself highly and proudly, so the communication seemed a bit lopsided and formal. Aurea almost seemed to be straining herself, trying to remain cool and calm, formal yet casual. Augustine almost laughed when he saw the tips of Aurea's ears go red, he couldn't tell if she was mad or embarrassed but considering the fact that his friend was a total dork with a short temper, Augustine just assumed it was both. He watched Aurea stiffly walk over to him.

"I'm going to wipe the floor with that little piece of-"

Her sentence was abruptly interrupted when Augustine put a hand over her mouth.

"Now now Aurea," he chided feigning paternal sternness," There are children present."

Aurea's ears turned a bit red as she moved his hand off of her mouth,

"Fine, whatever. How was your opponent?"

"Lily was okay, not really all that interesting but a polite young lady. You?" He said.

"Do you want me to swear, because it really sounds like you do-"

"Okay next topic! Who are you going to use?" Aurea turned her head to the side deep in thought, Augustine already had a pretty good idea of which of his friends he was going to have help out, but he was clueless when it came to hers. After several minutes of silence, Aurea replied with a,

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see." Augustine almost face palmed, he wanted to know now! After waiting so many minutes he felt anxious and that led to wait?! Come on! He pouted and turned away, before saying,

"Well, I'm excited to see you, how you said it so eloquently, wipe the floor with that little piece of-"

"Hey, if I'm not allowed to say that word neither are you!"

-t-i-m-e-s-k-i-p-

The battles were staged on the ice, which meant both the trainer and pokemon had to be careful, for Aurea that meant no using fennekin. She wasn't sure about who to use at first but she had immediately crossed fennekin off the list, it's naturally high body temperature and the heat coming from its ears would make it easier to melt the ice, add those along with mostly fire-based moves and an icy battlefield and you've got a recipe for disaster. Aurea immediately thought of minccino, and decided that minccino would be her first choice, because minccino was her most trusted Pokemon. Besides, she had a feeling Alex was going to 'let' her choose her pokemon first.

The boat lowered onto the ice and Aurea stepped off of it, she ungracefully made her way onto the blue spot set up on the ice and watched as Alex climbed skillfully out of the boat. Goosebumps rose on her arms and the harsh wind whipped at her face, and once again Aurea found herself wishing for Augustine's jacket despite earlier's fiasco. Alex and Aurea stood several yards apart, and the ref threw down an arm

"Alright, each trainer gets one pokemon, no substitutions, if the Pokemon is knocked out or knocked into the water, the trainer has lost. Alright battle!"

Aurea looked over at Alex,

"You may do the honours."

Aurea gritted her teeth, as if she needed his permission! Nevertheless, she pulled out her minccino.

"Minccino come on out!"

Aurea spun and threw out the pokeball.

Minccino appeared in a burst of light, with a cute swish of its tail and a sparkle in its eyes. Alex held his chin his hand, and furrowed his brows. With a flourish he opened his hand and a pokeball randomly appeared. He tossed it onto the ground, and a yellow and black Pokemon with red O's on its cheeks, a swirled smile, and hands like boxing gloves appeared. 'It must be from another region' Aurea thought as she pulled out her pokedex.

"Makuhita: is tenacious- it will keep getting up and attacking its enemy for however many times it is knocked down. Every time it gets back up, it stores more energy in its body for evolving."

Aurea nodded, "So it's an attack based pokemon," she thought, "Best to keep on defense until I can see what moves it prefers."

Alex smirked,

"Makuhita use fling."

The pokemon rushed towards Minccino, swiftly picked it up, and tossed her up into the air. Minccino let out a small squeak and Aurea yelled,

"Minccino use hidden power!"

Three light orbs were shot towards the ground, breaking the small mouse's fall. Alex looked over at the battle calmly,

"Makuhita use Ancient power."

Aurea felt her blood pressure spike at the smooth sound of his voice, as the stones began forming above Makuhita she called out,

"Dodge it with quick attack!"

Minccino moved with an unmatched speed and agility, maneuvering around the large stones being hurled at her, a blur of white and grey.

"Makuhita use low sweep."

the chubby pokemon swept it's leg out, and the blur fell on it's face.

''Brush it off minccino!''

Aurea heard murmurs from the crowd and shook her head.

"Just tune them out, Aurea."

"Makuhita use earthquake."

Aurea almost screamed. Did this man have a death wish?!

"Minccino intercept it with quick attack!"

Minccino ran towards Makuhita and smacked it until it spun. Aurea let out a sigh, thank Arceaus that did not happen. The ice would have cracked and let all of them fall into the freezing cold water. No matter, now Aurea knew all four of Makuhitas moves, now it was time for offence.

"Minccino use thunderbolt!"

A crack of lighting was shot a Makuhita and, having not taken so much damage from all of the normal type moves, Makuhita took the hit whilst sustaining a minimal amount of damage.

"Makuhita use ancient power!"

Aurea smirked, judging by the sound of Alex's yelling she'd bet that this was going to be a lot more fun.

"Break the stones with Hidden Power!"

The rocks were met halfway , and smashed against the orbs of light.

"Now use attract!"

Minccino winked slyly at Makuhita as hearts flew towards it and encircled it. Aurea bit her lip in anticipation, hoping this one was a male.

The hearts swirled around it and stopped before the , apparently male, Pokemon was shown with hearts in its eyes.

"Alright Minccino! Use thunderbolt!"

A burst of light flew towards Makuhita, shocking him.

"Makuhita snap out of it! Use fling!"

"Dodge it with quick attack!"

The hearts left the poor Pokemon's eyes before it ran towards Minccino, Minccino was, however, moving towards him at twice the speed and they met. Makuhita flew back and landed on its back,the hearts returning to its eyes.

"Finish him with Hidden Power !"

Minccino swung its tail and the green balls flew at Makuhita. A cloud of smoke was shown, with Makuhita lying in the middle, knocked out.

"AND IT LOOKS LIKE THE PROFESSOR WINS! WHAT A MATCH!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd,

"Good job Minccino!"

"Good try Makuhita, we'll be training tomorrow."

Aurea smirked at the sound of Alex's disappointed voice, that'll teach him, still, Aurea decided to be a gracious winner and bowed politely to him. Alex looked back at her and bowed back, albeit with a bit of a grudging look, Aurea was sure that he was just trying to look good, for more than just the crowd.

The two bowed and walked over to the boat, well Aurea more like slid, almost falling part of the time. Augustine took her arm and stabilized her. Her nails dug into his sleeve as she climbed into the boat, however, her sneaker got caught onto her lab coat, and she fell over the railing of the boat. A few laughs were heard and Aurea groaned. She rested her head on the rather soft ground before it moved. She looked up, locking eyes with Augustine and groaned,

"Why do you insist on making it so hard to look professional in front of people?"

Augustine raised a brow,

"Last I checked you were the one who lost your footing."

"And last I checked you were the one who insisted I wear that jacket."

Augustine chuckled,

" Touché, Nice job." He stood up and held a hand out for Aurea, who ignored it in favour of the betraying railing. She brushed her arms and smirked,

"I told you I'd win."

Augustine gave her a lopsided smile and held up the soft brown coat,

"I understand if you don't want to wear it, but, you look like you're freezing."

Aurea rolled her eyes and let out a huff, feigning annoyance, before she snatched up the coat.

"If it'll make you happy, then fine, I'll wear the stupid jacket."

In truth Aurea was, in fact, completely grateful and felt like a human popsicle. Smiling, she put her arms through the sleeves and immediately felt her body get ten-twenty degrees warmer. Augustine smiled and nudged Aurea,

"Admit it I was right."

Aurea laughed and rolled her eyes,

"Fine."

Augustine beamed and leaned against the boat. The two stood there watching battle after battle commence until,

"This is the last battle of the day! Come up Professor Sycamore and Lady Lily!"

"Better go up, wish me luck!"

Aurea scoffed,and gave him a small smile,

"Come on Augustine, it's the first round, I'm pretty sure you'll survive."


	4. Chapter 4

Augustine nervously shuffled across the Ice, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He was starting to regret this, he knew he wasn't very good at battling and that he would probably lose in front of a large amount of people, but Aurea seriously needed to get out more. At the time the idea of entering a tournament sounded like the most exciting thing around, after all it was a chance to meet new people and, by extension, new pokemon. But now…Augustine bit his lip as he lifted his leg and rubbed it against his ankle.

He looked back at the crowd and at Aurea before he let out a visible breath, crystallizing the air for mere seconds.

Lily , a young lady with brown hair, blue eyes, a beautiful flowing dress, and puffy purple jacket stood across from him, before she shouted something.

"Would you mind if I go first?!"

Augustine smiled and nodded before bowing down, keeping his eyes level with his opponent. He stood up tall and kept his gaze set on the young girl before him. She, in turn curtsied with a small smile set on her face.

"Alright Amaura lead the way!"

Augustine let out a small gasp as the small blue pokemon appeared. It physique was similar to a small dinosaurs, with a white belly, and a gem on it's side. Above its eyes sprouted large wing-like sails that, unlike it's baby blue body, were a creamy peach that faded into a light pink.

Augustine remembered this pokemon for one very specific reason.

" **Amaura,** the tundra Pokemon : This ancient Pokemon was restored from part of its body that has add been frozen in ice for over 100 million years, it is normally calm and lived in a cold land where there were no violent predators.

He could work with this.

"Froakie, time to battle!"

Augustine had realized two out of the three pokemon he had wouldn't be able to take on this pokemon, Amaura was an ice type, and sadly for Augustine, two of his three entered pokemon were susceptible to the ice type moves.

With this handicap his team certainly had a smaller chance of winning, normally Augustine would just go for Garchomp, for obvious reasons such as her powerful strength, but Garchomp was also a ground type, which meant it's attacks were twice as ineffective and defense was twice as low. The ground type was stronger against rock but ultimately it was not too helpful. That was a double negative impossible to Chespin was a grass type, and therefore weak against ice, with no real advantages against rock.

Which left Froakie. Froakie was a water type, which meant it could handle the ice type attacks and rock types attacks, even if there was no large benefit, it was enough to take on the Amaura.

The blue frog pokemon emerged excitedly form the pokeball, before he hopped up into the air excitedly, and blew on the large amount of bubbles around it's back and neck.

Agustine only had a few moments to gather his thoughts before a call erupted from his opponent,

"Alright Amaura use Icy Wind!"

The cold snow that had been softly falling down from the sky was abruptly blown away as a large gust of wind began blowing throughout the area. Augustine felt his cheeks begin to freeze up and his hands become clammy, his body was cold, but he wasn't freezing. He was used to cold weather, winters in Kalos were like what he imagined being hugged by a Vanillish would be like.

His eyes cut back towards Aurea who was sitting down in the boat wrapping the too big coat somewhat tighter around herself, before giving him a smile and a thumbs up. Augustine waved back, relieved to see her warm and not trying to offer him his coat again, he was glad she was smart.

He turned back to the girl standing in front of him and called the next move,

"Froakie use water pulse!"

A pulsing blast of water shot out of Froakie's mouth and blasted Amaura, who gave out harsh cries of pain.

"Walk it off Amaura, use growl!"

The small seemingly innocent pokemon suddenly let out a disturbing growling noise that made Froakie withdraw for a second. Augustine clenched his fist, digging his nails into his skin, he had been hoping Amaura would have been confused apparently not.

"Attack with bubble beam!"

"Parry it with rock throw!"

The delicate bubbles shot at the rock, which easily popped them and continued on towards Froakie.

"Now, while they're distracted use powder snow!"

"Dodge it!"

Froakie was injured and had just gotten up only to be blown back by a gust of frost. He stopped moving and slowly a thick layer of ice formed around it's body.

Augustine let a small cry escape from his lips as he watched Froakie become a sitting duck, he waited for Lily's next move with baited breath.

"Amaura use rock throw again!"

Augustine's mouth dropped and he quickly yelled,

"Froakie aim down and use scald!"

Hot water skirted over frozen ice and quickly melted it, letting Froakie loose;meanwhile, the boulder was advancing on froakie quickly, barely ten feet away when Augustine yelled,

"Jump over it...now!"

The blue bubble pokemon sprung into the air and above the rock, which continued on, and crashed into the wall. Augustine felt his confidence grow and he threw out his hand,

"Now use water pulse!"

"Amaura dodge it and use powder snow!"

Amaura threw itself to the right, barely dodging the blast of water before it took in a deep inhale of breath.

Augustine's eye widened before his face became set. Not this time.

"Now Froakie use scald!"

The steaming hot water quickly washed away any trace of snow and splashed onto Amaura who had just been about to release the gust of frost into the air.

"One more try Amaura! Use take down!"

It was an all or nothing move, one Augustine easily took advantage of,

"Froakie dodge it!"

Unsurprisingly Froakie somersaulted over Amaura, who ran straight into the wall with a large crash, followed by the thump of a large body hitting the ground. Augustine let out a relieved sigh, glad that at least one of his plans had worked.

"And it looks like the professor has won! Man just watching that made me sweat! Give em' a hand folks!"

"Magnificent job Froakie!"

"Let's get you healed up Amaura."

The two acquaintances shared a kind nod and left.

Augustine nearly skipped over to the boat he was so relieved, during the whole entire battle he was worried about losing. It honestly was surprising that he was able to focus so easily on battling, even if his ideas were always changing. Normally his attention would be shifting everywhere he never had an actual strategy and was pretty inexperienced. The only thing that his mind could really settle on would be his research, that he could babble on and on about for hours without tiring. He wondered what had made it so easy to focus…

"Augustine! You did great! Looks like yesterday's training really paid off huh?"

Augustine clambered over the railing of the boat and smiled back at her,

"Yeah I guess it did."

"For a second you had me worried," Aurea trailed off as she bit the top of her index finger looking down. Augustine made puppy eyes,

"Hey I'm not that terrible at battling!"

"I know," Aurea sighed looking up at him, "I just thought that … nevermind."

Augustine nodded and looked away confused letting the comment register in his mind, he looked back down at her before he let out a small chuckle.

"What," she looked up at him inquisitively.

"The coat is just so big on you, it looks,", He coughed, a bit awkwardly,"cute."

Aurea's face paled then reddened as she his her face behind the massive sleeves of the brown coat.

"Shut up," she mumbled. Augustine felt his face turn red and his stomach churn for a moment watching her blush, but pegged it down to the aftermath of the freezing cold and adrenaline rush of the battle.

Suddenly the boat jolted and shook. The passengers on the boat cried out startled as the boat suddenly began to rise over the water. Augustine immediately grabbed onto the rail and didn't let go until the boat settled with a thud and people had begun to file out onto the cruise ship. Augustine stepped back in front of Aurea and raised his arm,

"My lady?"

Aurea's face was painted with confusion before she let out a laugh and took it. They started their walk out onto the boat in happy silence until an excited yell was heard and a camera flashed. Suddenly they were swarmed by reporters, cameras, and microphones.

"Hey hey! When did you two of you get into a relationship?!"

"Have you been keeping the relationship a secret?!"

"Are you two dating? How will the long distance relationship work out between you two?!"

Augustine thought for a minute, wondering just about how that really would work before be remembered that he wasn't in a relationship with Aurea to begin with. He had opened his mouth to answer before he jumped away from Aurea who had shot him a killing look for a split second before she had raised her hands up and tried to smooth everything out. Augustine turned around trying to find an exit while his mind raced for answers, only to have his vision clouded by the flashing colors. Millions of voices screamed around him, spots danced in his vision, and his breathing began to hitch. He wasn't used to this much crazy.

Augustine felt like a deer in the headlights, his mind was jumping from left to right. He looked around again and felt his nerves explode.

"Excuse me but we have to go there are some important...files…in our suite! Goodbye!"

He yanked Aurea's hand and ploughed through the crowd,

"What August-auggh ow?!"

Augustine felt her hand slipping as she began to fall behind, he tightened his grip, almost feeling her bones grind together. They rushed through the halls of the ship and ran into the elevator. Augustine slammed his palm on the button trying to shut the doors on the reporters that were driven enough to chase after them. He sheepishly waved through the closing doors,and jammed the button, not stopping until the doors had finally shut. He let out a groan and leaned against the wall.

"Augustine, what was that?"

Augustine flicked his eyes open and nearly jumped onto the wall. Aurea leered up at him, her voice was at a deadly whisper, ears were red, eyes narrowed, and hands raised up curled like claws. Augustine screamed silently for his voice and tried to answer,

"Couldn't … bright...crowded...crazy...escape."

Augustine gasped out, choking on air and lowered her arms and crossed them over her chest,

"Augustine," she sighed",That was really unnecessary we could have easily sorted everything out with the press then."

Augustine crinkled his brow, he hadn't thought about that.

"I'm sorry Aurea but there was just so much going on and…" Augustine bit his lip before staring at the doors of the elevator, the reflective metal played with the objects in the small room, distracting his mind from his worries. His eyes traveled back down to Aurea who had cleared her throat.

"Look I'm sorry, I just was overwhelmed before, I don't really like crowds...or enclosed spaces."

Aurea raised a brow and swept her eyes around the elevator. Augustine's followed before he realised where they were. He squeezed his eyes shut and steadied his breathing, focusing his thoughts away from the feeling of his chest being pressed down on, and thought of his lab in Kalos where pokemon wandered outside.

He looked at her with pleading eyes and he could see the anger and resolve melt off her face.

"Fine, but when we go back during the second round today I'll consult the press."

Augustine felt relief at the idea of actually having a plan and gave off a weak smile before the elevator's doors opened and the two were, once again, meet with flashing lights and loud voices. They had forgotten about stairs.

Aurea gave him a weak shrug before turning towards the numerous reporters,

"Look, we are simply co-workers, there's not much else to say. During the tournament today, I had simply forgotten my jacket, and Augustine was letting me borrow his. Now if you'll excuse us…"

Aurea took Augustine by the sleeve and pulled him away from the assault on his senses. The two bypassed the group of people and were followed by sound of shutters until they reached their room, where Augustine watched Aurea slam the door and lock it with a satisfied smile.

 **Hey! I'm so sorry for the late update! I really don't have a reason just a bad excuse of writers block...but from now on I'm going to try to set up a 1-2 week deadline so I actually get work done and what not. Enjoy! ^v^**


	5. Chapter 5

Aurea stormed over to the couch, where Augustine had thought she was about to sit. However, she passed it and continued on towards the curtains, where she yanked shut the soft silk sheets with a pronounced vigor. Her Posture instantly changed as she turned around, trudged over to the couch, and flopped onto it with a huff.

"You know I'm starting to think you're a lot more trouble than you're worth."

Augustine gave her a smile and leaned over towards her saying, over the sounds of fists on doors,

"Ah, my dear Juniper," Aurea wrinkled her brow at the usage of her last name, "I think you'll find that I'm quite worth your while."

His face moved closer to hers with a smirk and Aurea's face began to glow red. Augustine felt his heart thud in his chest, before he yanked himself back when he realized that he was staring for much longer than needed. His head flew back before he glanced at Aurea. She was leaning back with wide eyes and hands cradled to her chest, her face was completely red. Aurea opened her mouth to say something, before Augustine cut her off with a nervous laugh,

"Ahahaha… see you'll probably want to keep around my AMAZING sense of humor, seeing as how yours is as dry as a plate of crackers..."

The awkward comment hung in the air as the atmosphere slowly spilled out onto the floor. Augustine prayed to himself, wishing he were anywhere else but in that room. This was one of the most awkward things he had ever done, and that beats waking up in a farm of spoink after a rather hazy night of drinking. He leaned back onto the couch glumly and shoved his hands in his enormous pockets before taking a glance back at Aurea. Their eyes met and he quickly jumped off of the couch,

"Speaking of crackers, I'm a bit hungry. I'll be in the kitchen," he said quickly. Okay Augustine, he told himself, stop talking, that's all you need to say, "Call me if you'd like me to make you anything."

Dangit! Augustine prayed to Archeaus that she would stay quiet as he "casually" strolled into the kitchen entrance.

"Actually," Augustine almost slapped himself as he turned around to face the quiet voice, "I was wondering if I could make something."

The cogs inside his brain began turning as he processed her comment, cooking was good. It was normal, nothing awkward there. Maybe he could help her, or even prepare a dish for her and then they could share the meal…

A cough resounded through the room,

"Oh right yeah sure! What were you planning on making? Wait what are we going to use to cook with?" The we in his sentence stuck out to him like a sore thumb and he quickly and stealthily corrected his mistake,

"Oh erm you! I meant you! What did you want to make?"

Augustine raked his hands through his hair nervously, and Aurea's lip twitched slightly upwards as she got off the couch,

"I was thinking of making some Farfetch'd with leek and a berry salad. You can join me if you'd like something to eat. I had already bought what what I would need a few days ago, and, lucky for you, I had bought two Farfetch'd breasts just in case I ruined the first dish."

Augustine allowed himself to breath out before he looked back at her earnestly,

"Really? So how were you going to cook it? Stove or grill? What type of spices? Will I be preparing the Farfetch'd or the salad?"

-T-O-T-H-E-K-I-T-C-H-E-N-

Augustine had, rather reluctantly might he add, been put on salad duty. However he didn't mind too much because all he had to do was chop up Oran,Pecha,Bluk, Razz,Watmel, and Nanab berries, mix them up in the bowl, and add some spices (okay maybe that wasn't a step, but hey he was here to add some spice to her life! And he was bored). Augustine set the bowls down on the table and then parked himself onto the hardwood chair. He sat there for five minutes, pushing around the fruit in the bowl. Ten minutes, and the food was already gone. Twenty and he was eyeing her food. Twenty-five, and he had had it.

"Auuuurrrrrreeeeeaaaa how much longer til the food is ready?"

Aurea rolled her eyes,

"However long it takes. I only just finished putting the leek in the steamer and spicing the meat. Now I've got to grill it in the pan with the sauce I made. It WOULD have been faster had you helped me but once you sat down you seemed to fall asleep so i left it."

She said, waving the stained wooden spoon around with a shrug.

Augustine watched, mouth watering, as Aurea set the juicy pink meat onto the grill and it began to sizzle.

"I was awake, and would have willingly helped you. Here," he said, " I'll do the rest."

Augustine lightly bumped the young woman out of the way and plucked the spoon out of her began to saute the Farfetched in the chicken with practiced ease, while he felt Aurea watching over his shoulders.

"I didn't know you cooked."

"Oh, well I have to make my own lunches for work somehow."

"Yes but this isn't something most people make for lunch."

"Hey, I don't live off of takeout despite popular belief," he tilted his mouth slightly," When I was being mentored by Rowan I had to pay my own rent. So I got a part time job at a restaurant, nothing too fancy ,but still good enough to pay me above minimum wage. The only problem the job generated was working hours. They didn't mesh very well with my "school" ."

Aurea crossed her arms,

"Okay but your help is unwarranted here. I already did most of the hard work and I think I can handle something as simple," She scoffed at the word while Augustine raised a brow, "As putting meat on a pan and adding butter and spices."

She reached over his arms in an attempt to get back the utensils before he raised them sharply, knocking her hands away and somehow managing not to bring everything up with him.

" wanted my help, you'll get it."

A frustrated growl left Aurea's lips.

Augustine smiled as he heard the sound of someone stomping away and assumed Aurea was gone. Mentally he did a little victory dance and finished sautéing the Farfetched. He happily put on the lid and set the timer for 20 minutes.

Augustine spun around and opened his mouth to say something before-Splat!

Something wet and sticky had landed on his face.

A soft giggle-snort erupted from across the room as Augustine wiped his face.

"Oh I'm sorry I just thought you might want some more berries since you finished all of yours. I was only trying to be helpful."

The seemingly innocent word uttered from her lips sounded almost sinful as it dripped with sarcasm, laced with a sugary sweet voice. Aurea smiled unapologetically, and Augustine took that as a challenge. He took a step towards her. Her eyes widened and she stepped back.

He stepped forward.

She took one back.

Him forward, her back, almost rhythmically they moved. It was like a dance without a partner close.

Aurea was backed up against the dishwasher when Augustine met up with her, the sink had been full of water and soap bubbles from washing the bowls and knife. Aurea moved back and her hands fell into the sink, splashing water all over the counter. After hearing the small string of mumbled profanities from her mouth Augustine almost left her alone in favor of flat out rolling on the floor. Almost.

He felt the island counter behind him and reached back to grab the closest fruit in his proximity. He lunged forward with his arms outstretched before realizing his mistake, at the same time he had been reaching for the berries Aurea had grabbed a bowl of water. She dumped it on his head.

Water splashed everywhere, and soaked everything. Augustine was shell-shocked and stood there for a minute completely surprised. Silence drew long and hard until a soft giggle was heard. Which began to grow into a loud laugh that, try as he might Augustine couldn't ignore. He was slightly confused at her teasing, yet angry, behavior. Not to say he didn't like it though… Aurea kneeled down into the floor and Augustine followed suit almost concerned with her childish demeanor.

"Tired?" He asked.

"Just a little."

"And do you always get like this when you're tired?"

"It depends on the kind of tired I am." She said with a shrug.

Augustine made a confused face before he flopped down next to her. He realised that his right hand was still outstretched and, he had realized, was still holding the berries. Augustine peeked at Aurea through the corner of his eye and smiled evilly. He swiftly swung his arm around and smashed the berries onto her cheek.

Aurea screamed and instantly began wriggling on the floor trying to get up. But Augustine was faster and he immediately straddled her. Taking her arms with his left hand, he raised the berries in his right.

"Don't you dare Augustine! I swear to Arceus I'll kill you-"

The berries connected with her cheek and he began to smear the Razz berry all over her face. He laughed the entire time while she thrashed under him, giggling,kicking, and threatening. Only when Augustine had painted her right cheek a matching bright pink to his did he let go of her arms and get up off her. He plopped next to her, and faced her with a cheeky grin.

"By the way," he said, "You have something right, here."

He poked his finger deep into her cheek and pulled back. His finger came back a bright warm pink, and he put it in his mouth, licking it clean. The sour dryness making his lips pucker, before it faded away into a sweet poffin like flavor.

"Mmm, that's actually really good. Do we have anymore?"

She glared at him,

"No, sadly the only remnants of that would be...on my face."

"Really well then maybe I could just," He thought about how to get the rest off her face, a clear idea of just licking her cheek appearing immediately in his mind. Augustine felt his face get hot before he could wipe the thought away, and covered his blushing face with his hand, faking a cough.

Aurea, seeming to have read his mind, stared at him angrily. Or she was just pissed at him, but who knew anymore.

"A shame too," Aurea sighed," those berries are so hard to come by in Unova."

Augustine felt a rush of shame come over him, before he felt a sharp poke in his side. He turned his head. Before he could react, Aurea had dug her finger into the side of his cheek, then stuck her finger into her mouth. Augustine felt his face turn ten shades darker, as she licked it clean.

"Hmm, sweet," she blinked," really sweet. It kind of tastes like melon pops without the honey."

She made a face.

Augustine let out a smile and breath as he felt his face cool down.

"I prefer lemonade." He said, " The zesty sour with a punch of sweetness really hits the spot on a hot day."

"You realize we'll have to clean this up, right?"

Augustine frowned and opened his mouth to reply.

"BEEEPPPPPPP!"

The two stared at each other for a second and scrambled to get up. Augustine stood triumphantly, before he noticed Aurea following closely behind him. He rushed to put his foot forward before his world was turned upside down and his vision clouded with white. All he felt was numb.

 **OHMYGOSH I am so sorry I hadn't noticed the weird code thing! Sorry guys for the weird update hopefully you can read this. R &R thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

Aurea watched as Augustine fell. She saw him slip on the soapy water under his shoes, saw his eyes widen in surprise, and saw him catch himself on the flames of the stove. She saw Augustine cry as he fell on the floor and saw him hit his head. All the while wishing she hadn't seen what she saw.

His arm was burning now, the flesh being eaten at by the flames. Her first instinct was to calm down and mentally prepare herself as fast as possible.

" _Okay",_ she thought _," Your...friend is on fire and nearly unconscious. What are you supposed to do first? Put the fire out!"_

Aurea ran to the sink and grabbed a towel. She soaked it in clean water that was moderately cold, and rushed back,carefully, then patted out the flames before wrapping it around his arm. she checked the clock. What had felt like hours was only about 30 seconds. She leaned up and flipped off the stove as to prevent any more fires.

Aurea had never been in this type of situation, heck she hardly knew what to do! So, she tried to figure it out step by step, like her what you do know about the subject then learn as you put that knowledge to use. Step by step: a process.

" _Alright_ ," she told herself, " _Now Augustine is falling unconscious and you need to keep him awake."_

If Augustine was unconscious then there was no way Aurea could get him to the sink with her limited amount of strength and height.

Augustine's eyelids had begun to droop and his breathing became shallow, which caused Aurea to panic. She tapped on his forehead multiple times hoping to keep him awake. Augustine continued to fall asleep, ignoring the finger prodding at him. Aurea was about to panic, she tried getting another rag and putting it on his face with cold water, which was a better alternative to dumping water on him, but all that did was soothe him more.

" _Dang it! Why did I even think that would work?!"_ Aurea wiped her brow, he wasn't unconcious yet. She hadn't failed yet.

However, he was still falling asleep. Aurea panicked, his eyes were closed and his breathing became deeper. What was she going to do?!

Aurea bit her knuckle, this was a terrible last resort idea, but she needed him awake for this. She pulled her hand back and smacked his, non sticky, cheek. The sound of the contact echoing in her mind.

His eyelids opened up, still sagging but he was awake.

"Augustine! Augustine! Can you hear me?! I need you to stay awake!"

He looked up at her with tired eyes and gave a little nod.

" _Good now try to get him up."_

Aurea tapped at his face, and he kept his eyes trained on her.

"We need to get you to the sink okay, I need your help for that so we need to get you up."

Aurea pulled his arm, good arm, over her shoulder and got to her feet. Stooping down, she pulled at Augustine, who was slow to comply with her request. With a groan, he pulled himself up to his feet. The two of them shuffled over to the sink, being mindful of the slippery floor. Aurea looked him square in the eye as she spoke,

"I'm going to run your arm under the water until it doesn't hurt anymore. It WILL hurt at first but don't just tell me that it's stopped hurting just to make me ?"

Augustine nodded with eyes that were now wide awake and burning with pain. Aurea placed her hand on his good arm and squeezed it sympathetically.

Slowly she unwrapped the damp cloth and revealed to be only the stuff out of nightmares. The opened blister ran from his palm all the way to his elbow. The skin was open with small amounts of pus outlining the edges, and the inside was raw and red, various skin appearing darker than the others. It took almost all of Aureas self-control to keep the contents of her stomach inside it.

She turned on the tap, letting the water flow at a moderate rate. Making sure it was at a cool temperature. Slowly Aurea led his hand under the faucet. Augustine's face contorted into a pained grimace instantly and he yanked his hand back.

Aurea tugged at his hand again trying her hardest to remain patient and not worry and fuss over him.

"Augustine," she said gently looking at him with a serious expression, " I need you to do this. If not , your burn could be infected or worse. So please bear with me."

Aurea stared at him with pleading doe eyes, and there was no way he could say no. Augustine's face softened and he let his arm be pulled back under the cool water. He let out a hiss at the contact, and tensed his arm, but remained stuck in the position moving the entire width of his forearm under the water.

Aurea released his arm for a minute and walked over to the counter with the buzzer above it. She pressed the call button.

"Excuse me, there was a little mishap up here and we would like to request a nurse or doctor come up here. My...erm...coworker had gotten his arm accidentaly burned. It's a second degree burn but I think it's larger than most."

"Alright mam how large is it and what caused it?"

" Um, it goes from his hand to his elbow and he burned it on a kitchen stove."

" And is he conscious or do we need to wake him up?"

"He's awake but we were wondering if you could come here and then if needed take him to the hospital. There happens to be many eyes watching our room and I don't think being bombarded by random yelling reporters and then having to run away from them would be very good for him in this condition."

There was a split second pause,

"That's a bit of an odd request but when you put it like that it makes sense, I'll be there as soon as possible."

The line went dead and Aurea set the phone down with a click.

She turned back to Augustine with a concerned look on her face.

Aurea stared at him as he bit his lip, his eyes had begun to water a bit but he stubbornly refused to let the tears fall instead he opened his mouth.

"So,what are we going to do about lunch?" he said. Aurea could have slapped him!

"What are we going to do about the burn covering half your arm?!" She thought.

"I guess we could pick up something from outside before the second round. That is if you still want to go." Aurea said.

"Of course I'm going, why would you ask that?"

"Because you just got a second degree burn and waving it around during battle probably isn't the best way to let it heal." Augustine rolled his eyes.

"What would you like? It's on me, after all I did ruin your lunch."

"Well I ruined your arm so I think I'll pay."

Augustine looked incredulously at her.

"Don't blame yourself Aurea! I was the one stupid enough to run on a floor covered in wet water!"

"Yes, but I was the one who dumped the water on the floor."

"So, I'm the one who made you!"

Aurea shook her head,

"You didn't make me do anything. It's my fault, so I'm paying. I'm really sorry Augustine."

Aurea felt her lip quiver, so she bit the inside of her cheek and kept her face a hard mask. This was her fault and she had to make up for it.

There was a light knock on the door and Aurea rushed over to it.

Peeking through the glass, she saw that it was nurse Joy. She opened the door slightly and the young woman stepped in. She stood at about Aureas height with curly pink hair, smooth pale skin, a small nose and baby blue eyes. She dusted her hands on her frilly white apron, and bowed,

"Hello professor." She looked up and a confused look overcame her face, "Um what do you have on your face?"

Aurea felt a blush cover her face,

"Oh,um, fruit?"

Nurse Joy noded skeptically,

"So where is the patient?"

"Over in the kitchen."

The two walked into the kitchen and Aurea braced herself for a scolding. How could she forget to clean before she came? Oh, right, her friend was on fire.

Nurse joy was obviously shocked,

"What happened in here?!"

...

Aurea grimaced and leaned against the counter as the pink haired woman scolded the two and kneeled next to Augustine.

"This is why you don't play around in the kitchen especially when you're using the stove! You as adults AND scientists should know this! What were you thinking?!"

Aurea opened her mouth to apologize but Augustine beat her to it,

"Look, Nurse Joy, we were both tired and are very sorry. We've learned our lesson. Now can you please address the burn?"

Aurea raised a brow at the exasperation in his word choice; should he really speak like that to the woman who's supposed to be helping him? Still judging by the pleading tone that laced his words...

Nurse joy puffed out her cheeks and let out a huff of air.

"Let me see it."

Augustine held up his right arm. Nurse joy took it and examined it ,

"It's a good thing Aurea was here, had your arm been on fire any longer it would have probably been a third degree burn. I'm just here to patch up the mess, you should really thank her."

Aurea wanted to point out that she had also caused the mess but instead she hung her head in shame, she really didn't want anyone knowing it was HER mess. She wanted to run and hide, she hated knowing this was her fault but she couldn't ignore that it was. This was her fault and she had to handle this like a mature person, no dancing around the issue.

" Actually nurse joy this was really-"

Aurea stopped, her eyes became focused on Augustine who was rapidly shaking his head back and forth. Aurea set her stare on him refusing until his eyes became pleading, she sighed and continued on.

"A big mess," she wanted to slap herself, " I didn't do much, just ran his arm under water and put a cool cloth on it."

"Wait you drenched it water?! Get me a thermometer!"

Aurea rushed to rummaged through the kitchen drawers.

"No check the bag i brought," Aurea hadn't noticed that,"You're not supposed to run a major burn under cold water because the could cause a drop in body temperature!"

Aurea handed the thermometer to that young nurse and she stuck it under Augustine's tongue.

A brief pause,

*beep beep* went the machine and both women peered at the temperature.

89°, a little lower than usual but not to any life threatening levels. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"So what are you going to do about his arm?"

Nurse joy pulled out a tube, you know the ones that hold toothpaste, and unscrewed the cap.

"Well, seeing as how it's not a third degree burn I see no need for grafting or surgery; though it is rather large. In any case it's more serious than most so you're going to have to keep it wrapped up and use this," she held up the fingers covered in the light blue cream, " it's a cream made of rawst berries so your wound should heal faster than it would without it . However that doesn't mean you can use it normally, you have to be careful not to put too much pressure on the area because it needs to heal properly. It's probably still hurting right now so you'll need to be careful."

"Apply this," she held up the ointment," and wrap these," she pulled out two sets of bandages and began swathe the bandages around his wrist," loosely around your arm every day. Keep it away from extreme temperatures and it will be healed, not sure how long until then but I'm guessing about a month or more with the cream."

Augustine's eyes looked dazed as he held up a thumbs up. Aurea giggled at the confusing directions but made a mental note before she felt the tug of worry at her stomach .

"Oh wait!" Augustine suddenly exclaimed,"Can I still participate in the tournament?"

His eyes gleamed with a child-like excitement and practically begged Nurse Joy.

"I don't think that would be very good for your condition," she coughed," however if you really feel the need to then you have to cover yourself completely. Gloves, a hat, and a jacket. Its mandatory so no going without it this time okay."

The two scientists suddenly blushed at the woman's subtle reminder but nodded in agreement.

"Alright that should do it. The stalls have temporarily been moved inside of the ship so you needn't not worry about the weather yet."

She stood up and dusted her hands on her apron. Augustine jumped up and grabbed Aurea with his left arm,

"Thank you nurse Joy." He bowed, " Alright now let's go get lunch I'm starving!"

He smiled at Aurea who in turn gave him a small smile and a nod.

He pulled the poor woman towards the doorway where he opened the door and she grabbed the coat off the rack seconds before she was pulled through it. Leaving a very nonplussed nurse joy and a very large mess in the kitchen.

…

The two quickly advanced towards the stairs and Aurea breathed a relieved sigh, no reporters in sight. Thank Arceus. They rushed down the stairs and onto the main indoor floor.

Aurea had noticed the large amount of people in the area and dug her heels into the ground. The two came to a halt and Augustine turned around,

"What? What is it?"

Aurea held out the coat to him,

"Here, you need to cover your arm, w-we don't need anyone seeing it."

Augustine frowned at her stutter but smiled and put the coat on anyways.

"Alright "mom"," his face tuning in to the almost loving tone his voice held,"Now, can we please go get something to eat."

Aurea crossed her arms, on one hand it was almost 3:15 which meant they had 45 minutes until they returned to the tournament and they still hadn't gotten clothes or food. And without proper clothes Nurse Joy wouldn't let Augustine participate. But on the other hand Augustines stomach was growling like a starving wolfs.

"I'll go get the food, you go get your stuff."

Augustine looked at her,

"Would you mind if I bought the food?"

"Why?" she said,"It'd be easier you got your clothes."

"I'm just hungry, besides all I need is a hat and some gloves, you're the one who needs the coat." He said with a wink. Aureas face burned as she scowled at him,hiding the swirling in her stomach,

"Fine. You pay for the food, I'll pay for the clothes."

She walked off.

…

Aurea weaved her way through the colorful racks of clothes, letting her mind wander here and there, wondering how so many clothes fit into one stall. Mittens, hat, and earmuffs(?) in hand she pushed past the accessories and towards the heavier clothes, before memories of her last conversation with Augustine were forced into play, aided by the swirling still in her stomache.

"You pay for the food!" The line sounded trivial until you coupled it with todays previous events. Her TELLING him to pay for the food after she had burned his arm was selfish and just stupid! It was like tripping a kid and then asking why they always fell! Now he'd be paying for the food, despite the fact that she burned his arm and the food! Which… is just what he wanted! Thats why he asked to buy the food! Aurea could've killed him, just wait until she got near that cheeky chimchar! She'd-She'd pay for that food!

Aurea brushed her hands on her pants, she needed to hurry.

Her eyes skimmed the racks. There were many different jackets: long ones, short ones, puffy ones, furry ones, even plastic ones; but not one that Aurea really cared for. They were all ridiculously overpriced and overdone. Aurea just needed a jacket for a few days, something thick enough to keep her warm but thin enough to stay out of her way during windy battles.

Aurea frowned, none of these fit the bill. She moved towards the clearance section. Once again Aurea began to search through the racks of clothes when a soft thump sounded next to her. One of the jackets had fallen. She knealt down to pick up the pile of blue cloth and ,as it unfurled, scuntinized it with her eyes.

"It'll do."

…

Aureas eyes scanned the food stalls and she shifted the unecessarily large shopping bag in her arms. They'd never discussed where they would meet up, which created a problem for Aurea who was currently looking for her distractable...friend? Coworker? Person-who-is-really-persistent-charismatic-and-friendly-to-the-point-where-it's-annoying-yet-hard-to-ignore-and-impossible-to-not-reciprocate-his-friendliness? Yeah thats it. Aurea pushed away the bubbling feelings in her stomach and squinted to see some of the signs before she felt a tap on her shoulder. Thank Arceaus he was he-

"If you're looking for your colleague," A smooth voice spoke,"I saw him leave over there."

A hand pointed toward some of the stalls to her left. "How did they manage to fit all these in here?" she wondered.

Wait how did this person know who she was looking for-

Aurea spun on her heel quickly and came face to face with the very smug face of Alex. Well partly she had to look up a little bit seeing as he was leaning over her just a little bit, not like Augustine who stood like a foot above her. Either way, she internally groaned at the sight of him but painted a small smile on her face that felt more like a cringe.

"Ah, thank you."

She nodded and began to back away. Scratching her ear unconciously. The bag, lacking proper support, began to fall out of her arms and she hurridley fumbled to catch it.

"I can help with that."

Aurea's smile became more strained as she righted herself.

"No I'm-" Aurea shook her head and turned around quickly, not wanting to deal with Alex right then. She felt the bag being tugged, but kept moving hoping he would take a hint. Apparently not because it was slipped through her arms before she could rush off.

"I insist," the young man walked ahead of her, casting a glance over his shoulder. Aurea let out a huff of air and glared at the back of his head.

She didn't ask for his help, she didn't even want him here! But, she just rolled her eyes, no need to waste her time arguing. The two slowly began to walk through the stalls, many featuring electronic parts capturing her attention all to easily. Aurea began to slow down nearby a stall featuring something called a Holo Caster. She read the tiny description tag under it and smiled,

"Created in the Kalos region, this communication device allows the user to chat with others. As well as send, receive, and create hologram clips. It was created by Lysandre labs but it's ownership has since been transferred over to Clemont and co- labs due to unfortunate circumstances."

Unfortunate circumstances? She frowned at the phrasing, sounding too dark. Did the company close or… did something worse happen? Aurea resolved to ask Augustine later on and let her gaze travel upwards. The machine was no bigger than her hand and attached to a lanyard. It was u-shaped and flat holding a small lens in the center of the curve. A screen stood centered on the top, which just made Aurea smile at the simplistic and practical design of the machine. Lysandre, whoever he was must have been a very interesting and smart individual, if she could she'd probably love to meet him.

Suddenly the display item flickered to life and Aurea let out a small gasp as a hologram of a young woman appeared and began to talk. The little figure moved animately and its voice was projected clearly, an impressive display Aurea had to admit. Her eyes lit up like a kid in a candy stores would and her hands itched to take the device apart and discover all of its inner workings.

Sadly though she was ripped from her happy place as she felt a hand grip her wrist. Aurea snapped out of her reverie and let out a cry,

"H-hey," she slipped her hand over her arm attempting to brush away the hand, only to be stopped by it. This person had an iron grip. Aurea's breath began to get caught in her throat, she looked up. They were in a crowded area, no way this person could assault her here. At least not without others noticing. What kind of-

"I think you should calm down, you're stirring up a scene. Have you really forgotten about me being with you after 20 seconds?"

Alex. Aurea could have cried. Or punched him. But seeing as how both would be considered uncivilized, Aurea did the next best thing.

" N-no! But," she punctuated the word with a swift yank of her arm, "Most people I know wouldn't try to get my attention like this! Not unless they wanted to do something bad!"

Alex rolled his eyes and began walking forward, still with Aurea's wrist in his grip. Aurea felt her face turn red. She hated that! **HATED THAT!** Aurea got that he hadn't meant to scare or hurt her, but to do so and **NOT** apologize! No one should ever make her feel that vulnerable! **EVER.** She wanted to kill him! And to top it all off he was **dragging** her around! To look for **HER** friend! The one he had so rudely accused of assaulting her before!

"Well the least you can do is apologize!" The words slipped out, but Aurea didn't care. Alex stopped and she yelped as she hit him, her forehead smacked his neck, her chest collided with his back. He turned around and in the process pulled her to him. He leaned over her and looked like he could bite her head off, with that leering look in his eyes, his mouth set in a tight lipped frown . Aureas eyes widened but hardened. **No.**

She glared right back up at him.

His grip tightened almost like a Servipers He was pressed up against her, leering down at her. So close she could feel the puffs of breath from his nose ghost her skin. It was a challenge. But she wasn't going to lose. The stared each other down each of them showcasing their pride and determination. Untill, finally, Alexs eyes flicked over to something behind her. They narrowed...

"Sorry."

He smirked. And pushed her away, softly. Right into somebody else.


	7. Chapter 7

Aurea's back hit against the strangers and she gasped. She hit the floor with a thud, frowning and shaking her head. Rude.

Alex kneeled down next to her, waving the bag in her face.

"Wouldn't want to forget this now would you?"

He dropped it in her lap, gave her a false smile, and walked away. Aurea growled, jerk.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up.

Putting the pieces together in a second she bit her lip. Well, turns out Alex really did kind of help.

Augustine leaned over and took her right hand, softly pulling her up.

"So what happened?"

Quirking a brow she frowned,

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" she said.

Augustine gave her a weak shrug.

" I went to grab the clothes and then came back to the food court. Which you weren't at, Alex showed up and gave me directions before...helping me find you."

"Oh really where is he we haven't formally met?"

"Well," she cocked her head to the right, debating on what to tell him.

"He left a little after he saw you, after directing me to where you were."

Contemplating on giving the full story impaired her hearing for a bit, and as they stood there she could only scratch at her ear as she glared at the floor.

"Oh,well," Augustine's voice cut through her thoughts, " I went over to some stalls and bought lunch, but kind of got distracted on the way back. The technology stalls here are so diverse."

He trailed off before turning slowly and slightly towards the mess behind him. Aurea sighed,

"I'm so sorry."

The floor was littered with food, being spread and smeared by careless people's shoes into an unrecognizable mess.

She held her hands out in front of her,

"Why does this keep happening?"

It was like the world was trying to starve her.

Augustine chuckled scratching the back of his head,

"Aha well we better hurry and leave then, let's clean up. Do you have the time?" he said glancing at his watch.

"4:20," she said.

"Alright let's hurry up and clean this mess."

"No," she turned to him shoving the bag into his hands," You put on your clothes while I clean up. When you're done then you help. We don't have time to argue so just do it."

She said, exasperated with the persistent man.

She bent down picking up the containers and stuffing them with the various vegetables, breads, and cheeses. Doing her best to scrape the sauces from the wraps with her nails, cringing at the gunk getting under them.

She stood with the armful of trash, and walked over to the nearest trash can. Wiping at her hands in disgust on her way back.

To her surprise she found the last of the garbage had been picked up. Aurea crossed her arms and turned around towards the can. No Augustine.

Where was he? Had he wandered off?

"Boo!"

A pair of arms wrapped around her along with something soft.

Seconds after her jumping she had turned her head, only to find the man in question smiling a goofy smile,

."AH! W-what- don't scare me like that!"

Aurea yanked herself out of his grasp, he let her go willingly taking her coat with him.

"D-don't do that! I-" he held out her coat, "Alright fine you're right we're going to be late. Let's go."

She huffed, snatching the coat from his hand, walking away quickly while wiping at the small tears brimming at her eyes. She was a grown woman, letting something like that scare her this much made her feel ridiculous.

Aurea swung the soft blue cloth around her, flinching when it tapped her side before shoving her hand into the sleeve. The soft blue fabric whirled around as the wind blew from the opened door, keeping the cold from nipping at her skin.

The two quietly made their way outside to the docking area and stepped onto the already crowded boat. Relief made her lean on the rail slightly with a sigh.

"It's nice to see you here, I was afraid you were going to be late."

Aurea almost thought it was Alex.

However it was who Burgh made his way over to the two with a friendly smile and...artistic style.

Aurea smiled with a sense of joy at finding it was not Alex.

"We almost were."

The young man nodded,

"I saw you rush in why were you so late?"

Aurea gave a small awkward laugh,

"Some problems just got in our way for a bit."

She found herself looking back to Alex, and the first lunch, and the second…

"Ah yes I too have found myself immersed in my own little world when I'm honing my craft. It's like a veil is hiding the rest of the world from me. Oh I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Burgh Castelia's gym leader, Bug type specialist, artist, and something akin to protector. And you are?"

Aurea stood confused for a second before Augustine stepped out from behind her. He had been so quiet she had almost forgotten about him. He held his hand out with a small smile, an air of reserve around him.

"Augustine Sycamore, Kalos' main pokemon professor. It's nice to meet you."

The two shook hands.

"Oh are you the one who created mega evolution? I've heard a lot of things about you!

Tell me are you going to bring it to other regions I'm dying to know!"

"Maybe depending on cooperation with other professors, but most likely once I figure out what stones you can find in Unova."

Burgh nodded,

"I'd love to try it out someday, maybe one of my beauties could become even more graceful! If you ever need a test subject I'd be happy to help!"

Augustine nodded,

"I'll definitely think about that. So what is Castelia like?"

Burgh seemed to get even more excited, if possible. However the boat shook for a second, and the conversation began to disappear in the clouds of cold leaving their breath.

"It seems the competition is about to begin, you'll have to excuse me."

"Likewise ."

The two took their leave and Burgh waved goodbye to her.

Augustine simply turned towards the water when he left.

Aurea couldn't tell if he was sulking or just feeling tired.

"So how's your arm?"

"Warm," he simply said.

Aurea felt frustration bubble up in her but swallowed it down,

"Why are you so quiet?"

Augustine didn't look at her,

"I just feel bad, I don't want you to get upset again."

Aurea felt like her heart clenched, he seemed smaller and more reduced in size and personality. She made him feel like he needed to dial it down, and now he was sad.

"I'm sorry, you did nothing wrong I was just upset before."

"Why though? Was because of…"

He trailed off and Aurea placed a hand on his arm.

"No… I...Alex was a bit annoying that's all."

And prudish, snobby, arrogant…

"Was that all he did?"

Augustine adopted a soft concerned tone.

"N-no," Aurea felt ridiculous, he was someone she worked with. It felt silly sharing something like this.

"In short he "escorted" me to where you were. He was very persistent so I just let him. But he somewhat startled me for a minute and afterwards I found you so he left."

Augustine's face was painted with concern,

"Did he do anythin-"  
"No, but for a second I thought he would. I didn't know it was him at first when he startled me."

The explanation was half-baked, confusing, and probably generated more questions than answers but Augustine let it hang in the air. She assumed it was for her sake.

The two watched as the matches were shown between the eight remaining competitors.

Aurea was quiet as the cards were flipped, one showing her face the other Augustine's.

"So...see you in the ring?"

She nodded and smiled.

"May the best trainer win."

Of course the two didn't go until later on but Aurea still couldn't help but feel a distance being opened up between them. Whether or not it was because of the conversation remained to be seen.

Augustine was the type of person who used type advantages in most matches, from what she had seen when he practiced with her he wasn't the type to attack more on dodge. Similar to her he liked to use a lot of defense but rarely ever turned attacks from others on their head, the last move in his earlier battle just been something of common sense. He'd try to hold out as long as possible until the opponent tired out, but what she'd noticed what he did with her that different was that he would attack before she could think. At first he had dodged and held out but after his first few losses he'd attack a bit more. He didn't seem to care too much about strategy, but she guessed that was because he wasn't much of a battler.

Augustine definitely had a trump card, but with careful planning Aurea knew she could beat him. After all Garchomps aren't invincible.


	8. Chapter 8

He didn't really need to win. There wasn't much to drive him competitively. And yet as Augustine stood across from Aurea he felt a sense of competitiveness drive him, pulling out his pokeball slowly. This wasn't like before, he had felt that as long as he tried his best he'd be fine. Win or lose.

The wind pulsed harder about the two, pounding in his skull. His ruffled hair whipped about his face, which wore a look of utter concentration.

Aurea had sent out her Accelgor, and the two had matched stance glaring back at the two with complete seriousness. She had a look on her face that made him wary. The calculative gaze in her eyes made his heart race, but he stood firm. Not like her, tight, sharp, guarded.

Augustine stood, shaking out his limbs, loosening his shoulders, rolling them back. He placed his hand in his pocket, tossing the ball up and down.

The wind seemed to convey Aurea's impatience, blowing a sharp gust at him. Yanking on her coat, the swirling long dark blue fabric spread behind her like a sail. She was ready to fight.

Augustine gulped a bit, but released Garchomp. After all it was go big or go home with this battle.

The wind blew harder, at the opponent's revelation, yet seemed to still as the two stood there.

They held each others gaze, her eyes narrowed in focus, his almost smiling. A devious feeling rose up in him for a second, when he caught her returning the look, after seeming to flood her iris' with confusion.

This would be fun.

The first move was to be called out.

Yet their voices seemed dead in the wind.

He wanted to see what all the training seemed to do for her with this battle. And the thought struck him, that even if he lost he'd feel pride, and if he were to win he'd feel almost… disappointed. The feeling was familiar but felt out of his grasp.

She seemed to be waiting for him to call, so he'd decided not to let her down.

Not breaking her gaze he opened his mouth, and he saw her eyes flood with surprise. Apparently she wasn't actually expecting him to speak. A smile played at his lips.  
"Dragon rush!"

Garchomp moved with incredible speed, rushing at accelgor within the blink of an eye.

"Use protect!"

The shield appeared, meters ahead of the attack.

"Quick attack!"

Accelgor seemed to jump about its shield and attempted to kick Garchomps face.

"Guard!"

This wasn't a move, but a simple practice.

Garchomp raised her arms, her wings shielding her face as accelgor's wrap connected with the wings. Garchomp pushed back with her wings, making accelgor fly away.

"Stone edge!"

The projectiles flew to accelgor, making contact for a split second.

"Dodge with quick attack!"

Accelgor raced out of range of the rocks,

"Now use dragon claw!"

Garchomp swung her massive claws at accelgor managing two hits before Accelgor raced to dodge them.

"Energy ball!"

Accelgor swung its hands, letting the green balls of energy swing at Garchomp.

A few nailed garchomp who failed to raise her arms in time, but nevertheless managed to block more.

"Dragon claw again!"

"Quick attack!"

Garchmps blades barely nicked accelgors wraps, and accelgor, barely missing a beat, rushed away. Augustines eyes could barely keep up.

"Energy ball!"

This time a more than a few hit garchomp.

"Dragon rush!"

Augustine picked up on Aurea's slight panic, and took advantage of it. Garchomp blazed forward, folding it's wings around itself and moving at the speed of a jet. There was no way Accelgor would be able to dodge this. And it seemed Aurea knew this too.

"Hyper beam!"

The stream of power met with Garchomp head on, slowing her decent towards Accelgor.

Garchomp would lose to much health if things like this continued. Still she charged on, and as the beam slowly fizzled out, began to pick up speed again.

"Protect!"

The blue shield appeared, again this time protecting Accelgor, but Garchomps force seemed to push it back until both ran out of energy and retreated.

Augustine ran a hand through his hair, Garchomp was taking more hits than she was setting.

Accelgor too seemed to be lacking energy, with a lot of damage taken from the powerful dragon claw.

Aurea, however didn't seem worried.

Augustine glared at the scene before him,

"Push through it Garchomp! Use dragon rage!"

Garchomp seemed to stop slumping and managed to conjure up the ball of purple rage.

Aurea said nothing and let it fly at Accelgor. This time Augustine felt like panicking for Accelgor. Whom of which was sent flying before landing on the ice with a thump, its weight creating cracks in the floor.

Aurea seemed to wake up again and called,

"Quick use Recover!"

Accelgor, who seemed almost beaten pulled it self up,

Augustine felt guilt stricken as he called out the next move.

"Garchomp slash!"

A heavy hitting move wouldn't be needed, Accelgor didn't even seem able to get up properly. Using its hands to slowly prop itself up. Garchomp moved forward, Augustine shared a glance with her and felt her guilt.

Accelgor however managed to pull himself up. And a bright light outlined Accelgors body, who seemed to radiate vitality. Still Garchomp moved closer, a few feet away.

"Hyper beam!"

There was no dodging that.

Garchomp took the blow head on, and crashed to the ice, breaking a bit of it from its almost perfect sheet.

"Energy ball!"

The orbs knocked Garchomp with an echoing finality and left her on the ice, fainted.

Augustine stood shocked for minute before pulling out his pokeball in worry.

"Don't worry Garchomp we'll patch you up."

He whispered to her.

He looked across the ice, to see both Aurea and Accelgor panting.

"We did it Accelgor!"

She flashed Accelgor a smile whom of which, seemed to nod at her, exhausted but content with his praise. Augustine carefully made his way towards her.

She returned Accelgor to his pokeball, holding it with red fingers.

Augustine grinned over the applause,

"You were fantastic!"

She leaned towards him,

"And you were marvelous."

His chest swelled at the usage of the word.

Making their way back to the boat the two tried talking a bit, failing to hear a few lines from each other over the slowly dying cheers.

"Your strategy was brilliant!" He complemented. How she'd managed to switch about was beyond him, at first it was dodge attack and then it just turned to exhaustion and energy build up. The way he put it sounded more simple than it was when it came to executing said system.

"And _your_ strategy seemed almost nonexistent here," she told him cocking her head to the side like a bird, "I've never seen you fight like that, not even during practice. I half expected you to use mega evolution the entire time."

Augustine climbed over the boats rails with the ease his long limbs granted. Pouting he spoke,

"I'm not _that_ bad. I only used it once or twice during practice."

Aurea shifted on the bars, before hopping over them and landing clumsily on the boats deck.

"No, well, it's more like I expected more strategy from you. So when I saw you mainly attacking, I'd figured you were going to use all the strength you two had."

Augustine shook his head, that wouldn't be fair here. It was different from practice, he'd wanted to see what she could really do. Not just with a rinse and repeat opponent.

He finally placed his finger on the feeling he felt as he looked down at her grinning face, he'd been watching her listen keenly to the rest of the matches when it hit him.

He felt like he was watching one of his trainers, there was a pride he felt in seeing her growth and skill. The fondness made his heart thump for a second.

She seemed absolutly marvelous in her element. Battling wasn't it. It was the look she had when she felt completely sure of herself, that brought a warmth to his chest.

It was electric the way her eyes held the thoughts that so wished to escape and yet brimmed with life at the prospect of actually executing her plans.

Was this why she was a professor, a scientist?

Augustine beamed at her.

Aurea still didn't look at him, but instead turned her focus to her freezing hands. The best way to get her attention…?

"Now who needs the gloves?"

He teased,

"Still you."

She didn't look up from her hands, Augustine pouted before pulling off one of his own, the one not on his bandaged one.

"Here."

He held it out to her, and she looked up at him. Finally. They stared directly into each others eyes for a minute, before she blinked.

"Hah I won!" He thought.

"And now you have to wear this one."

He set the glove in her hand, and she groaned apparently done with his game.

"Fine but you _are_ keeping the other one."

Augustine grinned,

"Fine by me. I'm not the one who can't handle the cold."

She rolled her eyes before leaning her elbows on the rail. Augustine followed suit, watching the spectacle in front of them play out with only a few glances at her in between.

He found her casually holding her right hand with the gloved left, and smiled to himself.

Looked like she'd be needing him for a few things after all.


	9. Chapter 9

So... I'm really sorry for those who were really interested in this story but I've been going through some problems and I've been thinking...this story was something I was really interested in for a long time but as of lately I haven't looked at it as though it was fun to write. It became an obligation because I felt the need to please others. So,I'm really sorry but I will be discontinuing this story. I feel bad, and I know I'm letting down some people but I don't want to force myself to do things I don't enjoy anymore. I love writing and I love making you readers happy but I'm not going to live for others anymore. So that's it. I'm sorry, once again. and have a good day please! :)


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